Double The Trouble, Twice As Nice For Deirdre Ward

John Tierney explained the significance of Ward's third and fourth career crossing of the Channel. "Deirdre's swim is the 43rd two-way crossing of the English Channel in history. She is the 16th woman of 30 swimmers to achieve this distinction. [Only] 14 men have completed the same feat."

He also pointed out the esteemed company in which Ward joined. "Three Serpentine Swimming Club members have completed two-way swims of the English Channel; Kevin Murphy, Nick Adams and Deirdre Ward."

Deirdre Ward: I was anticipating between 30 and 36 hours based on my previous channel times and what others swimming to France and bank had achieved. I was hoping for 30, but didn't want to fixate on that time just in case.

Deirdre Ward: There were two main low points in my swim, when I was nearing the end of a leg.

The first was as we were in the general area of the Cap. I had been asked to push for an hour and really had tried and was feeling tired, but still fighting current. I thought we had missed it altogether, but they seemed to still be pushing me on so I was feeling tired and confused. In reality, we hadn't actually missed it at that point, but I was not able to fight through and we went in just above. I thought I had added hours onto my swim, but actually I had not. I was relieved once I realised that.

The second low was as we seemed to nearing the English coast. I started to fixate on the lights ahead and thought the end was much closer than it was. I decided to try really hard for an hour which just resulted in tiring me out as we were just being pushed along the coast.

Other than those points, which were probably max 2 hours total, it was a beautiful day out with blues skies during the day, clear star filled nights, stunning sunrises and sunsets and calm seas. I really enjoyed the majority of the swim and felt privileged to be out there.

Deirdre Ward: I knew I had to just keep swimming so I tried to focus on other things. I found counting my strokes in 1-2-3 allowed me to focus back on my stroke, probably swim a bit faster and stop looking around too much.

Deirdre Ward: At the end of the first leg, I deliberately didn't think at all, just had some water, painkillers and a jelly baby and headed back out again. When I finished the end of the of the second leg, I was a bit wobbly trying to clear water. I was directed to a promising white rock and promptly sat down and cried what I think were tears of relief. Then I felt a bit cold. I think I was actually quite numb to emotion though by that point.

Deirdre Ward: If I was to do it again, I think I would want a lot more information about where I was and why I was being asked to do certain things. I think this might have made it easier for me to push when required, and indeed hold back when there was no reason to push.

Deirdre Ward: I am not quite sure how to answer this question without listing out my training plan.

I think key would be long swims - up to 20 km pool sessions in the winter and 2x10 hour swims in the summer. I think these swims prepared my both physically and mentally as I got used to the distance, but also got used to working with my mind to keep me in the water and happy in my own head. I found that this time round I was able to think about very little for a long time, keeping a bit more in the moment. On the day itself, I often just focused on the play of light on the water.

I did also plan how I thought the swim would play out based on different start times so I could identify and prepare for potential low points and planned key things to focus on if my mind wandered into sad places, such as thanking people after the swim, seeing everyone back in Dover.

There was no one thing I did, just a lot of little things that seemed to work for me.

The Other Shore

The Other Shore follows world record holder and legendary swimmer Diana Nyad as she comes out of a thirty-year retirement to re-attempt an elusive dream: swimming 103 miles non-stop from Cuba to Florida without the use of a shark cage. Her past and present collide in her obsession with a feat that nobody has ever accomplished. At the edge of The Devil’s Triangle, tropical storms, sharks, venomous jellyfish, and one of the strongest ocean currents in the world, all prove to be life-threatening realities. Timothy Wheeler’s documentary brings Diana Nyad’s extraordinary adventure to life as Diana sets out to prove that will and determination are all you need to make the unimaginable possible.LEARN MORE...

2014 Open Water Swimming Almanac

An Almanac for Open Water Swimming

An almanac is essentially a body of knowledge which is so complete that it enables people in different fields to make predictions about the future of their respective industries.

This, for example, was the purpose of the traditional farmers almanacs. It enabled farmers to determine as accurately as possible which crops to plant for the greatest harvests in a given year.

But the farmers almanac was just one example among many. There are, of course, many different kinds of almanacs.

Congratulations to Antonio Argüelles Díaz-González of Mexico

Congratulations to Andrea Fazio of Italy

Congratulations to World Ice Swimming Championships In Murmansk, Russia

2015 World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year

Lewis Pugh Presents WOWSA Awards at Big Chill Swim

5 February 2016 in Windermere

2014 & 2015 WOWSA Awards

World Open Water Swimming Man of the Year, World Open Water Swimming Woman of the Year, World Open Water Swimming Performance of the Year and World Open Water Swimming Offering of the Year will be celebrated at the Big Chill Swim, one of the world's largest winter swimming festivals

FINIS Custom Suits

Swim Pain Free

Open Water Personality Test

Professional Open Water Coaching

Ocean Games In New Jersey

1 - 3 - 9 mile ocean swims on July 19th

FINIS Instinct

FINIS Agility Paddles

One of the World's Top Open Water Swim

Open Water Swimming in Italy

SWIM THE ISLAND is the ultimate open water swimming event taking place in the fascinating Marine Protected Area of Bergeggi, in the north-west coast of Italy. The event takes place in an absolutely spectacular natural setting, offering swimmers the vision of one of the most extraordinary seabeds of the Mediterranean sea.